''Extraordinary Measures'' is a 2010 American
medical drama
A medical drama is a Television film, television movie or film in which events center upon a hospital, clinic, doctor's office, a paramedic, or any other medical topic or environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic progra ...
film starring
Brendan Fraser
Brendan James Fraser ( ; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor. List of awards and nominations received by Brendan Fraser, His accolades include an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a nomination for a Golden Globe A ...
,
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. Regarded as a cinematic cultural icon, he has starred in Harrison Ford filmography, many notable films over seven decades, and is one of List of highest-grossing actors, the highest-gr ...
, and
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She played the title role in the drama series '' Felicity'' (1998–2002), which won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama, and later portrayed El ...
. It was the first film produced by
CBS Films
CBS Films Inc. was an American film production and distribution company founded in 2007 as a subsidiary of CBS Corporation and was considered a Major film studio#Mini-majors, mini-major studio up until 2019.
CBS Films originally was planned t ...
, the film division of
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation was an American multinational media company with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing and television production. It was split from Viacom on December 31, 2005, alongside an entirely new Viacom; both ...
, who released the film on January 22, 2010. The film is about parents who form a biotechnology company to develop a drug to save the lives of their children, who have a life-threatening disease. The film is based on the true story of
John and Aileen Crowley, whose children have
Pompe disease. The film was shot in
St. Paul, Oregon;
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
;
Tualatin, Oregon
Tualatin ( ) is a city located primarily in Washington County, Oregon, Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon. A small portion of the city is also located in neighboring Clackamas County, Oregon, Clackamas County. It is a southwestern sub ...
;
Wilsonville, Oregon
Wilsonville is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, Clackamas and Washington County, Oregon, Washington counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded with the name Boones Landing for the Boones Ferry that crossed the Willamette River, the communit ...
;
Manzanita, Oregon
Manzanita is a coastal city in Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. It is located on U.S. Route 101 about equidistant from Seaside to the north and Tillamook to the south. The population was 603 at the 2020 census.
History
The indigeno ...
;
Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in the Tualatin Valley, located in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon, with a small portion bordering Portland. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was ...
, and
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver ( ) is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, located in Clark County, Washington, Clark County. Founded in 1825 and incorporated in 1857, Vancouver had a population of 190, ...
.
Plot
John Crowley and his wife Aileen are a Portland couple with two of their three children suffering from
Pompe disease, a genetic anomaly that typically kills most children before their tenth birthdays. John, an advertising executive, contacts Robert Stonehill, a researcher in Nebraska who has done innovative research for an enzyme treatment for the rare disease. John and Aileen raise money to help Stonehill's research and the required clinical trials.
John takes on the task full-time to save his children's lives, launching a biotechnology research company working with venture capitalists and then rival teams of researchers. This task proves very daunting for Stonehill, who already works around the clock. As time is running short, Stonehill's angry outburst hinders the company's faith in him, and the profit motive may upend John's hopes. The researchers race against time to save the children who have the disease.
Cast
*
Brendan Fraser
Brendan James Fraser ( ; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor. List of awards and nominations received by Brendan Fraser, His accolades include an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a nomination for a Golden Globe A ...
as
John Crowley
*
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. Regarded as a cinematic cultural icon, he has starred in Harrison Ford filmography, many notable films over seven decades, and is one of List of highest-grossing actors, the highest-gr ...
as Dr.
Robert Stonehill
William Canfield is a glycobiologist, chief scientific officer and founder of an Oklahoma City-based biotechnology company, Novazyme, which was acquired by Genzyme in August 2001 and developed, among other things, an enzyme that can stabilize (bu ...
*
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She played the title role in the drama series '' Felicity'' (1998–2002), which won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama, and later portrayed El ...
as Aileen Crowley
*
Courtney B. Vance as Marcus Temple
* Meredith Droeger as Megan Crowley
* Diego Velazquez as Patrick Crowley
* Sam M. Hall as John Crowley, Jr.
*
Patrick Bauchau
Patrick Nicolas Jean Sixte Ghislain Bauchau (born 6 December 1938) is a Belgian actor best known for his roles in the films ''A View to a Kill'', '' The Rapture'' and '' Panic Room'', as well as the TV shows '' The Pretender'' and ''House''.
...
as Eric Loring
*
Jared Harris
Jared Francis Harris (born 24 August 1961) is a British actor. His roles include Lane Pryce in the drama series ''Mad Men'' (2009–2012), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Seri ...
as Dr. Kent Webber
*
Alan Ruck
Alan Douglas Ruck (born July 1, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Cameron Frye in John Hughes' film '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986), as well as television roles as Stuart Bondek on the ABC sitcom '' Spin City'' (1996� ...
as Pete Sutphen
*
David Clennon
David Clennon (born May 10, 1943) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Miles Drentell in the ABC series '' Thirtysomething'' and ''Once and Again'', as well as his role as Palmer in the John Carpenter film '' The Thing''. He ...
as Dr. Renzler
*
Dee Wallace
Deanna Wallace (née Bowers), also known as Dee Wallace Stone (born December 14, 1948), is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Mary Taylor in the 1982 Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbuster science-fiction film ''E.T. the E ...
as Sal
* Ayanna Berkshire as Wendy Temple
*
P. J. Byrne as Dr. Preston
* Andrea White as Dr. Allegria
* G. J. Echternkamp as Niles
* Vu Pham as Vinh Tran
* Derek Webster as Cal Dunning
John Crowley makes a cameo appearance as a venture capitalist.
Production
Adapted by Robert Nelson Jacobs from the nonfiction book ''The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million—and Bucked the Medical Establishment—in a Quest to Save His Children'' by the Pulitzer Prize journalist
Geeta Anand, the film is also an examination of how medical research is conducted and financed.
Filming took place at several spots in and around
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
, mostly at the
OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital
Doernbecher Children's Hospital is an academic teaching children's hospital associated with Oregon Health & Science University located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1926, it is the first full-service children's hospital in the Pacific North ...
,
Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...
campus in
Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in the Tualatin Valley, located in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon, with a small portion bordering Portland. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was ...
. This was the first time Nike allowed filming on their campus and they donated the location payment to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. During filming, the working title was ''The Untitled Crowley Project''.
In the film, the children are 9 and 7 years old. Their non-fiction counterparts were diagnosed at 15 months and 7 days old and received treatment at 5 and 4, respectively.
[Roger Ebert (January 20, 2010)]
Extraordinary Measures
. Sun Times. Accessed 2011-08-01.
Inspiration
Myozyme, a drug developed for treating
Pompe disease, was simultaneously approved for sale by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency. Henceforth, more than 1000 infants born worldwide every year with Pompe disease will no longer face the prospect of death before reaching their first birthday for lack of a treatment for the condition.
The screenplay by
Robert Nelson Jacobs is based on
Geeta Anand's book ''The Cure'' (). Parts of the book first appeared as a series of articles in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''.
The small start-up company Priozyme was based on Oklahoma City-based Novazyme. The larger company, called Zymagen in the film, was based on
Genzyme
Genzyme (also known as Genzyme Transgenics Corp or GTC Biotherapeutics) was an American biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From its acquisition in 2011 to 2022 Genzyme operated as a fully owned subsidiary of Sanofi. In 2010, ...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Novazyme was developing a protein therapeutic, with several
biological patent
Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...
s pending, to treat Pompe Disease, when it was bought by Genzyme. The patent portfolio was cited in the press releases announcing the deal.
Genzyme
Genzyme (also known as Genzyme Transgenics Corp or GTC Biotherapeutics) was an American biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From its acquisition in 2011 to 2022 Genzyme operated as a fully owned subsidiary of Sanofi. In 2010, ...
claims that Dr. Robert Stonehill's character is based upon scientist and researcher
William Canfield, who founded Novazyme. According to Roger Ebert's review, the character is based on
Yuan-Tsong Chen,
a scientist and researcher from Duke University who collaborated with Genzyme in producing
Myozyme, the drug which received FDA approval.
Reception
Critical response
Review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
gives ''Extraordinary Measures'' an approval rating of 29% based on reviews from 142 critics and an average rating of 4.88 out of 10. The site's general consensus is, "Despite a timely topic and a pair of heavyweight leads, ''Extraordinary Measures'' never feels like much more than a made-for-TV tearjerker."
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score out of 0–100 reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 45 based on 33 reviews. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects.
He was the former editor-in-chief of ''Film Comment ...
of ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine wrote: "Fraser keeps the story anchored in reality. Meredith Droeger does too: as the Crowleys' afflicted daughter, she's a smart little bundle of fighting spirit. So is the movie, which keeps its head while digging into your heart. You have this critic's permission to cry in public." ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic, known for his film and literary criticism. After starting his career at ''The New York Review of Books'', '' Variety'', and ''Slate'', he began writing film ...
said in his review: "The startling thing about ''Extraordinary Measures'' is not that it moves you. It's that you feel, at the end, that you have learned something about the way the world works."
Ramona Bates MD, writing for the health news organisation, EmaxHealth, stated that the film brings attention to
Pompe disease. Peter Rainer from ''
The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...
'' mentions that
Big Pharma got a surprisingly free pass in the film and that it will come as a surprise to all those sufferers struggling to get
orphan drugs
An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent that is developed to treat certain rare medical conditions. An orphan drug would not be profitable to produce without government assistance, due to the small population of patients affected by the condition ...
developed.
Jef Akst, writing for the journal ''The Scientist'', stated that the film is good depiction of the "hard to swallow fiscal issues of
drug development
Drug development is the process of bringing a new pharmaceutical drug to the market once a lead compound has been identified through the process of drug discovery. It includes preclinical research on microorganisms and animals, filing for regu ...
."
Box office
The film opened at #8 on its opening weekend, taking in $6 million. The film remained in theaters for four weeks, earning $12 million.
References
External links
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{{Tom Vaughan
2010 films
2010 drama films
American drama films
CBS Films films
Films based on non-fiction books
Films directed by Tom Vaughan (director)
Films set in Portland, Oregon
Films shot in Oregon
Films shot in Washington (state)
Films with screenplays by Robert Nelson Jacobs
Medical-themed films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films